Petros Family Wealth LLC Increases Stock Position in American Express Company $AXP

Petros Family Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 12.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,865 shares of the payment services company’s stock after buying an additional 204 shares during the quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC’s holdings in American Express were worth $595,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Express by 5.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 680,308 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $183,037,000 after buying an additional 35,295 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its holdings in American Express by 1.4% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 167,534 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $45,243,000 after purchasing an additional 2,259 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in American Express during the first quarter valued at $509,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in American Express by 6.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 94,458 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $25,088,000 after purchasing an additional 5,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Navis Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Express by 368.7% during the first quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,548 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,791 shares in the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Laureen Seeger sold 16,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.83, for a total transaction of $5,011,520.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,653,764.83. This trade represents a 65.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Stephen J. Squeri sold 112,272 shares of American Express stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.86, for a total transaction of $37,034,041.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 92,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,614,306.60. This represents a 54.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock valued at $85,261,270 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt downgraded shares of American Express from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of American Express from $371.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Express from $311.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $319.95.

American Express Price Performance

American Express stock opened at $330.10 on Monday. American Express Company has a 12-month low of $220.43 and a 12-month high of $349.19. The stock has a market cap of $229.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $320.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $298.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.22. American Express had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 32.87%. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. American Express’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.02%.

About American Express

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.